One of the most vitriolic campaign trails in the history of US presidential elections ended with a bigger surprise when the results were declared on November 9, completely shocking the world, proving wrong the pollsters and the political pundits in the American media. Donald J Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, who many did not even take seriously during the start of the Republican presidential primaries was able to prove all his detractors wrong, winning the primaries and finally getting elected as the 45th President of the United States of America.
The recent memorable US Presidential election that was closely observed since the coming of cable TV in the country would be the 1992 elections when Bill Clinton won denying George H W Bush a second term . Due to the looming economic crises and the raise in taxes, many voters in the two-party system realigned to vote in favour of Bill Clinton who took the middle path also known as the Third way making realigning easier for the voters. The Third way being the more centrist role taken in the fight between the right-wing and the left-wing and it promised something new for the American public.
Since then , all the US presidents has been elected a continuous two-terms each and the first term election were fought quite hard on all occasions. The George W Bush vs Al Gore elections of 2000 completely divided the country as Al Gore got the popular votes whereas George W Bush won the electoral college. This was aggravated more by the Florida recount controversy when incorrect report by the TV network had Al Gore at first conceding the race. The Supreme Court finally ruled that overall recount was unconstitutional and so George Bush got the 26 electoral college votes from Florida and the presidency.
The next election was the Barack Obama vs John McCain US presidential elections of 2008 that rather saw the stiff fight in the Democratic primaries between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. With the global economic recession and war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Barack Obama an African American who was quite articulate about his plans became an iconic figure for change. He went on to win the presidency against the former US Navy both in popular votes and also the electoral college votes.
In many of the earlier US elections issues were widely dichotomized between the candidates and most of the time the candidate offering something new was more favoured, the exception being the elections of 2000 between George W Bush and Al Gore that many still consider Al Gore had won. America is a country split between pro lifers versus pro choice, gun control versus anti gun control, universal healthcare versus private health care, homophobic versus same sex marriage etc. it is also the land where the pro lifers in majority support the death penalty and are also mostly against gun control; at times difficult for an non-American to understand.
So, in this election even though it sounded like a joke for many, Donald J Trump with his tongue lashing, anti-foreigner and a condescending attitude brought along a new slogan ‘Make America great again!’ and it did that trick ultimately. He was really able to get the votes of the rural white population with his unapologetic attitude but at the same time with a message that the country was for the Americans. Hillary on the other hand was considered as part of the status quo and therefore she was not even able to get votes from Hispanics, African-Americans, the youth and also women as many as what Barack Obama got earlier. A known face who many voters failed to trust though she was in the White House earlier as First Lady and in the government under Barack Obama too. She was also investigated by the FBI for sending emails from her home and though her name was cleared it resounded a complete disregard for data security, a must in this digital age that also only worked against her campaign. She won the popular votes but she was not able to garner enough electoral college votes losing the key states of Ohio and Florida.
Now, with the country starkly divided, Donald Trump has time till his inauguration in early 2017 to mend the wounds and set his right team. Will he have another trick up his sleeve or will he wither away in the next four years with stiff opposition from the democrats is yet to be seen. Hopefully he has realised by now that, holding the post of the most powerful office in the world surely is a complete new ball game than his just concluded campaigns.
